Edward Thonen
Miner involved in the Eureka Rebellion / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Thonen (26 May 1827 – 3 December 1854) was a German emigrant to Australia, and one of the miners involved in the Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat, Victoria. He was captain of one of the miners' divisions. When soldiers stormed the Stockade on 3 December 1854, Thonen was one of the first to be killed in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade.
Edward Thonen | |
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Born | (1827-05-26)26 May 1827 Elberfeld, Prussia |
Died | 3 December 1854(1854-12-03) (aged 27) Ballarat, Victoria, Australia |
Other names | Eduard Thönen |
Occupation(s) | Clerk, teacher of languages, lemonade seller |
Years active | 1850–1854 |
Known for | London diamond robbery, Eureka Rebellion |
Prior to his emigration to Australia in 1853, Thonen had gained notoriety in England as a jewellery thief.[1]a[2] The story of his capture on a ship off the coast of Wales was widely publicised. It even reached Australia in the 1890s,[2] although no one, at the time, appears to have made the connection between the diamond robbery and the events at Eureka.[3] That connection was only made in 2022, thanks to a collaboration of researchers on the genealogy website WikiTree, whose results were later published by the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society.[3][4]